We have offered the original full texts of The Silent Healer for a long time and was recently sent an old box of Condensed Versions that are no longer available. We have a dozen or so and will be doing a giveaway but wanted to preserve the text here for those that wish to read it. 

Download "The Silent Healer, a modern study of Aloe Vera" condensed Version

The File was over 20MB and it was easier to upload it by Chapter.

Aloe Part 1

Aloe Part 2

Aloe Part 3

Aloe Part 4

Aloe Part 5

If you would like anything added of have suggestions please let us know. 

If you want to change the math, logo, info or anything this is totally free.

Just unlock the spreadsheet using password: 777

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Jeremy, BuildASoil’s owner, started as an inveterate home gardener with a passion for organic veggies and self-sufficiency. He then created BuildASoil to develop craft blends and source amazing materials for creating living soil. So, it was only a matter of time before he took the next step and started a farm!

Building the BuildASoil Family Farms has been a family project itching us for quite some time. However, as we gave BAS our full attention and effort, the farming dream was put on the back burner. That is, until 2019, when we finally took the plunge and started BAS Family Farms right here, in Montrose, Colorado.

The Farming Journey So Far

The first thing we did was build a greenhouse. Growing veggies in a greenhouse comes with a learning curve. From building it correctly to mending it after a storm (tip: don’t start putting the plastic roof on just before a major wind storm), we had to learn from scratch.

However, once everything was up and running, we discovered how immensely satisfying it is to see your plants grow fast and strong in the greenhouse. Given Montrose’s dry desert soil, we needed the greenhouse to grow veggies in living soil—not hydroponics—and to maintain the necessary levels of moisture for all kinds of plants.

Of course, we also grow veggies in outdoor fields. Just like in the greenhouse, we’re in favor of the no-till farming method, so we use no tractor. It’s fun to learn how to make the most out of the good, old hand tools! Our plants grow in our very own BAS Craft Blend, amended with minerals, Montrose worm castings, Sphagnum Peat Moss, and more all organic amendments. Naturally (pun intended), we use no pesticides or herbicides. We use nothing but the best quality, organic materials, which is why we take pride in saying we’re beyond organic.

We’ve already grown successfully a wide selection of seasonal veggies the organic way: several kinds of tomatoes (cherry, black cherry, sakura, and more), cucumbers and pickling cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, lettuce, Asian greens, spinach, baby kale, onions, basil, peppers, potatoes, turnips, cauliflower, beet, carrots, and more.

One of our favorite things to do is harvest. Harvesting is so rewarding after all your hard work! We harvest all of our produce by hand, wash it, dry it, then pack it in fully plant-based compostable containers that look like plastic, are sturdy enough, but are fully biodegradable. At BuildASoil Family Farms, we want to be as sustainable as possible.

Ramping up for the 2021 Season!

After finishing the winter season with some superb winter greens and radishes, our farm is now in full preparation for the 2021 summer season.

We’re planning for 105 outdoor beds, which is a lot of work! One bed at a time is the way to do it. Our greenhouse is full of microgreens and seedlings growing strong to go into the soil when it’s time.

We plan to grow all kinds of summer veggies, just like last year: tomatoes and bell peppers, cucumbers and pickling cucumbers, zucchini, squash (those squash blossoms are simply delicious stuffed with ricotta, garlic, and Asiago and fried), basil, and, of course, plenty of salad greens and lettuce.

Where to Find BuildASoil Family Farms Produce

Since we believe in local, sustainable eating, we distribute our produce locally.

If you want to taste the BuildASoil Family Farms produce, call-in at our premises in Montrose. We’ll be delighted to see you there! We have the freshest greens for anyone who wants to eat local, so just stop by our BAS store:

BuildASoil Family Farms

5016 North Townsend Ave Ste 202 
Montrose CO 81401
970-417-0992

You will also find us regularly on Montrose’s farmers’ market. We love the farmers’ market: the colors and perfumes and textures are amazing, and it is such fun to talk to people and explain how we grow our produce. Some people simply come to hang out and share recipes with us. We’re pretty excited and curious to know what you do with our produce! So, next time come see us at the farmers market, enjoy the fantastic ambiance, and buy your farm-direct veggies all year round.

And if you want to grow your own veggies, give our living soil a try and see the BuildASoil difference for yourself!

How to keep a pest free indoor grow - Organic IPM from BuildASoil on Vimeo.

Basic bullet points I cover in more detail in the video:

1. Don't take cuts. (Clones) When taken from another grower can bring unwanted pests and diseases. 

2. Grow Environment has to be proper

3. Watering properly: https://buildasoil.com/blogs/news/how-to-water-living-soil-over-water-vs-under-water

4. Spraying routine once per week with a rotation of favorite organic products. 

5. Look for good ingredients and realize this is about being consistent and clean in your garden and not a magical product. 

 As promised in the video there are a few PDF documents:
IPM NOTES PDF

EPA 25B Exempt Approved ACTIVE Ingredients

EPA 25B Exempt pesticides Approved INERT ingredients list 

Also Recommended Reading List 

My results were actually pretty good, but I've since moved on I think you should too. Make your own soil for better results. This is why I've stopped using other super soils like Subcool's.

Besides the "base soil" being purchased instead of made from scratch, I have many other issues. All in all, taking bagged soil and adding worm castings and nutrients isn't a bad idea, but the mix can be improved upon and money can be saved.

Here is the Recipe the other guys use:

• 8 large bags of a high-quality organic potting soil with coco fiber and mycorrhizae (i.e., your base soil)
• 25 to 50 lbs of organic worm castings
• 5 lbs steamed bone meal
• 5 lbs Bloom bat guano 5 lbs blood meal
• 3 lbs rock phosphate
• ¾ cup Epson salts
• ½ cup sweet lime (dolomite)
• ½ cup azomite (trace elements)
• 2 tbsp powdered humic acid

Now I'll go through each item: 

1. Bagged soil - WHY? when we are going to the trouble to mix all of this up anyways, me might as well save some money and increase the quality. The other factor here is having exact control over the inputs. These soils already have unknown quantities of nutrients and the quality control isn't perfect, what if you get a hot batch and then further amend it? I would avoid the potential room for problems and make a soil using many standard recipes but most go with 1 part peat, 1 part compost and 1 part aeration.

2. Mycorrhizae: Adding this to your soil doesn't make sense and is a waste of resources. Anyone who works with mycorrhizae will tell you to apply to the rootzone at transplant or seedling stage. Obviously this super soil mix is for the bottom of the container and nowhere near the rootzone at the proper time. Basically just a complete waste of Myco.

3. 25 to 50 lbs of organic worm castings: I agree with using wormcastings but that is a WIDE range to apply. Why 25 - 50? I think that when building your base mix you should be factoring in a certain percentage of castings and compost. Not adding to this all later on in a made up way.

4. 5 lbs steamed bone meal - This is a by-product from the Cattle industry and is really not a good input for organic soil production. Fish bone meal however is great for this same purpose and is safer to use.

5. 5 lbs Bloom bat guano - Guano is very expensive and really not necessary. This is a fast release nutrient and is more in line with the feed the plant regimen instead of soil building. That and harvesting guano is rarely safe and sustainable, there are many reasons to avoid this.... Plus the Fish bone meal that we just mentioned has you covered already along with all the other plant based amendments and worm castings that you should be using.

6. 5 lbs blood meal - More slaughterhouse waste and sure to be unclean. Why use the blood from McDonalds cows when you can add nitrogen so easily through alfalfa meal, fish meal and or worm castings. Show your soil some better love.

7. 3 lbs rock phosphate - This is the 3rd phosphate product and it makes sense because in a soil this rich and without the mycorrhizae actually working like it should there isn't going to be a very good way to access P. That's okay, in a properly built soil you don't need a million sources of P, the plants will get it and the biology and fungi will make sure of it. Not only that but soft rock phosphate is high in heavy metals like cadmium that are proven to be harmful. When growing cannabis, the trichomes will store the heavy metals and smoking the plant will not allow the typical body safety system of passing through the liver etc. before going into your blood. For this reason materials high in heavy metals are typically avoided.

8. ¾ cup Epsom salts - Absolutely no reason to add more magnesium sulfate to a good soil mix. A little known fact about soil is that the Calcium to Magmesium Ratio will control the texture of the soil and adding epsom salts is a good way to tighten the soil and there are better ways to get sulfur, like gypsum.

9. ½ cup sweet lime (dolomite) - Dolomite lime should be avoided as it is completely out of balance with the proper Calcium to magnesium ratios for proper soil building. Especially when considering long term no-till soil use.

10. ½ cup azomite (trace elements) - This is good stuff and is just a "brand" name rock dust that has all the elements from A-Z hence Azomite.... thing is, that also includes heavy metals. While I'd use this in the veggie garden, many will avoid this in the medicine garden.

11. 2 tbsp powdered humic acid - Good advice but humic acid typically purchased at the grow shop is from leanordite and isn't really helpful and is very expensive. Avoid this and get Ful-Power from Bio-ag and use it with waterings.

So then after all this work. You mix this up and let it sit for 30 days. Then use this in the BOTTOM of your soil container. What is interesting is that all though this makes sense at first glance... it's all way off. Nature doesn't have all the nutrients on the bottom in fact it's the opposite, all the plants in nature have the nutrients on the top. That is why building a soil (making your own soil), using mulch and topdressing work so well. It's things like this that make the real organic Gardner's and farmers laugh at all of us sometimes.

So if you've been using super soil, don't feel bad, I think we all did at some point and I owe Subcool a lot because he actually got this semi-organic mix discussed enough that the mainstream took notice... that alone was helpful at getting me to where I am today.

I hope this article helps!

Here is another article on a popular soil recipe called TLO: http://buildasoil.com/blogs/news/9885098-why-tlo-dissecting-the-rev-mix-line-by-line

This is the 20% that causes 80% of the issues. Learn to water and success is much closer.

Here is the fast rule of thumb to consider.

5-10% of the soil volume for potting soils.

Small Containers with bigger plants need daily water. here's how to measure the amount of water per gallon of soil. 

How to water living soil

Big Containers with Smaller plants need water once a week or so. The idea is to maintain optimal moisture. When I have multiple plants in one large container and cover crop going I can water every day to every other day in small amounts. But the same grower at home with less plants per bed might be able to go a week. Use these guidelines to come up with your own routine.

So how much water is 5% or 10%? 

Use your soil volume to multiply by 5% or 10%

For example: 30 Gallons of soil = (30 gallons of soil x 5% = 1.5 gallons of water)

The next thing to remember is that it’s all relative to VPD, plant size vs. container size, and speed of growth.

VPD = Vapor Pressure Deficit and is the key to balancing proper temperatures with consideration to the humidity. Blog Post on VPD: https://buildasoil.com/blogs/news/vapor-pressure-deficit-vpd-guide-from-pulse-one-grow-room-monitor

For instance. You have 10 gallon soil containers. You’ll probably water half of a gallon per watering and you could even use a little less if you do this daily or the plant is not large yet. But if you live somewhere where it is humid and your grow room is not warm, your plants will not be growing under ideal circumstances which means they just won’t be able to drink as much water as needed. That being said you would then need to factor that into your watering equation.

Now on the other hand if you have a larger plant and it’s dry and warm you’ll probably be watering closer to 1 full gallon of water per each watering and still maybe everyday.

Think of soil moisture on a scale of 1-10. 1 being bone dry and 10 being muddy wet. We want to operate in the 3-7 range all day long, day in and day out. You can do this by calibrating automatic watering systems or by hand watering with a little intelligent thought.

Watering the soil to make sure the plants are happy is the number one challenge most new no-till growers will face. Without a carnal understanding of what the plants and soil require, the newer grower will spent countless hours chasing their tail. If you know your soil has plenty of nutrients but it just isn’t growing properly it all comes back to watering habits.

Not only will the plant miss out on key nutrients because of this but it’s decline in overall health will literally send the signal to natures clean up crew to come and get rid of your plants. Now, of course it’s not all that simple, but for the most part the bugs and pests we have come to dislike actually do serve a purpose. The problem is that people are unknowingly causing their own pest and disease issues because of over and or under-watering their soil and plants.

Think of the plant as an intelligent being that has no control over it’s environment and only control over how it reacts. Our goal is to give the plants the environment that will lead to the most efficient use of water and the fastest growth. To get good use of water we need warmer temps and balanced humidity with good grow lights and good soil.

So let’s make sure you have a mental process to walk through and maybe you can see your own answer…

Temps? High and Low? Low temps can cause overwatering, high temps can cause underwatering…

Humidity? High and Low? Low humidity will cause plant growth issues but also will require more waterings. High humidity is ideal in veg and can speed up growth but is easier to over water.

Rootzone Temperature? Cold temps will drastically slow growth and slow the water use.

Canopy Temperature? High Canopy temps can drive moisture movement by drying the plant out so it has to constantly move moisture to the top of the plant and this can drive plant growth to a certain point. Low Canopy temps can be good for flowering but not as good for veg so just consider your canopy temperature when dialing your VPD. Consider using a laser to test the top leaves near the grow light. Low Canopy temps can lead to over-watering easier.

When do you water normally? Do you have a routine? Best practices are to water when the lights turn on or in the morning and at a consistent time. If you are have no routine and water whenever you feel like it you will have a garden with weak plants and pests and disease. Just sticking to a routine can eliminate many issues. It only becomes a problem when the routine leads to over-watering instead of paying attention to the plants and soils needs.

Do you water too fast? We recommend using a pump sprayer for smaller gardens so you can water slow and even like rain and not fast and rushed like a tsunami. 

When was the last time you watered and how much? Was if more than 5-10% by volume? Was is very recent? You probably aren’t under-watered but if the watering before that was a long time out and things got dry in between your soil could have gone hydrophobic and have dry spots. That is why consistency is so helpful.

How often are you watering? We prefer to see less water and more often. The best drip systems are watering several times per day in small amounts. Most growers that we know that hand water usually water everyday or every other day depending on container size, plant size etc.

What size grow container? Large container with small plant error on the side of less water. Large plant and small container error on the side of too much water.

How many plants per container? Consider how much soil is really there per plant. If you have 3 plants in a 15 gallon container your watering needs to be more often than if you only had 1 plant.

What PHASE (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in? Seeds need enough water to germinate and then after that make sure they have a little less water as they are easy to over water while young. Then as the plants mature in a small container they will need much more water. The next big phase of water use is when you go into flower for the first 2 weeks during this time the plants will double in size. It’s important to note mentally when this growth phase slows down so you adjust your watering accordingly.

How big are the plants? Again, if you have a larger plant and a smaller container you will be watering much more often sometimes twice per day to keep her happy.

How big are the plants relative to container size? AGAIN! If you have small plant and big container it’s easy to over-water, if you have large plant and small container it’s easy to underwater.

How Heavy Is Your Container? You should lift or tilt your grow container to get an idea of how heavy before and after you water. You can then reference that feeling later when you aren’t sure if over or under-watered.

Thump the side with your hand, does it sound hollow? Or Dense and wet? If it is light and sounds hollow it’s under-watered. If it sounds dense and wet you are probably not under-watered.

What is the age of your plants? Have they grown root-bound and are just too old? Maybe there are multiple issues at play? Consider the age and health of plants along with the size and you’ll be thinking smart.

How long have they been in the soil mixture they are in now? Could it be the new soil? Or maybe they have been in it too long and depleted nutrients? Maybe it’s not your watering! Be sure to consider a living soil if it's time to make a change. Build A Soil, your own soil, for the best results.

Were they in the same mixture when they were seedlings/smaller plant? Sometimes changing recipes can cause some strange issues until the plants get used to the new soil.

What substrate/medium are you using? Do you have enough aeration? Or way too much? Sometimes considering what your soil recipe is will clue you into the understanding of over or under-watered.

What type of grow light? Do you have enough power? Too much? Plants like a certain amount of light in veg and flower and many new growers will take short cuts and get a cheaper grow light that will slow plant growth and cause over-watering. On the other hand if you have a powerful new grow light maybe it’s too much in the beginning? Make sure the plants are happy and the environment is good and you’ll be way ahead of the issues because there will be a wider margin for error.

What is the distance to the canopy? Grow lights need to be at the proper distance to work. Make sure you take this into consideration.

What is your relative humidity? To low and you’ll underwater while slowing growth of the plants. Too high of humidity and you’ll over-water more than likely.

What is the canopy temperature? Laser the leaf and find out! Adjust your watering of the plant and soil accordingly.

What is the Day/Night Temp? (Include fluctuation range) Big swings in temps can cause issues. Low temps can cause over-watering and high temps under-watering. Factor this into you routine.

Tell us about your ventilation, intake exhaust and when its running and not running ? If your have no air circulation or venting you can have more issues like C02 and or weak plants. Ideally we want to mimic nature and have plenty of fresh air (Exhaust and Intake) and plenty of air circulation (Oscillating fans)

Is the fan blowing directly at plants? You’ll notice if the plant blows directly at one plant it will look weak and have issues compared to the others. You want to have a balanced environment.

Finally, are plant's infected with pest's? (Are you sure?) Did you scope to make sure? 

Click here to learn how to make your own soil from scratch.

And Have The Best Grow Of Your Life!

Download PDF File or read below

Have you ever thought about how a bagged soil company settles on a recipe? What about where they get the ingredients from? Can you trust the soil companies?

Watch the video below or Read on further for detailed instructions. 

When you are done reading this you will have all the tools to build your own potting soil from scratch and you’ll have the confidence to know it’s going to work as planned.

Part 1: What is in potting soil?

Have you ever thought about how a bagged soil company settles on a recipe? What about where they get the ingredients from? Can you trust the soil companies?

There are so many soil products on the market and most manufacturers are getting all the same ingredients from the same sources and getting them bagged all at the same facilities. All that changes is the label and exact ingredients used. There is little regulation in the industry and the only approval for a Label is if you are citing NPK numbers or fertilizer claims. Besides that, you can list your most expensive and attractive ingredient First on the label even if that ingredient happens to be in the lowest concentration in the soil. This allows companies to list ingredients that sound incredible but then fail to back them up with actual quantities used. Then as a soil company gets larger they have to buy in large scale and start looking to the most affordable sources for ingredients such as, City Waste, Bio-Solids, Poultry Waste, Cattle Waste. Think like a big company for a minute and compare bagged soil to our food industry but with less regulation, then you can see how bad the situation truly is. Thankfully there are a number of decent potting soils on the market but none will compare to making your own from scratch.

So, let’s say you have decided to make your own soil from scratch and are willing to do whatever it takes to make the best. Well, where do you start? There are so many recipes out there!!!

There is so much talk online in the organic forums about creating an ideal soil. Many different recipes from many different growers. Some claiming their soil is the best, others indicating that you should use spikes of nutrients and layers of different soil. It's challenging as a new grower to actually decide on a recipe and then stick to it. One of the many things that growers do when using bottled nutrients, is change nutrient brands all the time. Usually looking for the ultimate grow product that will finally allow them to purchase a good grow. This mentality usually wears off after a few runs but it's important not to start that mind set all over again in organics. If you are brand new, start to learn why each ingredient is added to a mix. Once you have that understanding you can easily make a mix from scratch from components that you have available locally or regionally depending on your budget.

In the next step I’ll give you the fundamental basic math to understand the recipe in different volumes and how to design your own mix based on how much soil you will require. 

Step #1: How to follow the recipe:

We often discuss making a recipe in “parts” instead of exact volumes because this allows you to scale the recipe up. So if the recipe is a 3 part mix, that means each part will be 1/3^rd of the total. The first recipe we use will use a 3 part base and you could make that recipe using a 5 gallon bucket or a wheelbarrow as long as each part was equal. If you want to make a certain amount of soil we give you some conversions below to help in the process. On average the particles will blend together and the sum of the total recipe will be less volume than each individual component combined. For this reason, be sure to error on the side of making a little too much soil instead of trying to be just right.

Here is the math we will use:

1 Cubic Yard = 200 Gallons (Approximate)

1 Cubic Yard = 27 Cubic Feet

1 Cubic Foot = 7.5 Gallons

3.8 CF Bale of Peatmoss = 6 cubic feet when fluffed up

3.0 CF Bale of Peatmoss = 4.5 cubic feet when fluffed up

2.0 CF Bale of Peatmoss = 3 cubic feet when fluffed up

Step # 2: Choose The Recipe

Recipe #1: Timeless Classic recipe called the Coots Mix

This recipe has evolved from longtime growers through the online grow forums and has set a benchmark for quality no-till inputs.

Recipe #2: Building A Soil With Local Inputs Following Coots Recipe

Following the above recipe we will be suggesting proven inputs to make sure that your recipe comes out with the expected results. In this Recipe #2 we change the percentages to make a lighter soil that will allow for a gamble with local inputs without using a soil lab.

Recipe #3: Building A Soil Using soil testing to make it as balanced as possible

In this recipe we tackle that challenge of designing a potting soil that will perform at the highest level with the least cost by sending several samples to the lab and using soil testing and CEC balancing to make sure it’s as good as you can get with the inputs available to you. 

Recipe #1:

Step #1 Get your base ingredients together.

This is benchmark to use at first and then start tweaking based on your situation.

Ratio 1:1:1

This means that there are 3 main components at 1 part each.

Example: To make 15 gallons of soil. 1 Part would be 5 gallons.

1 Part Sphagnum Peatmoss, Coco, Leaf-mold, etc.

1 Part Aeration material like lava rock, pumice, perlite, rice hulls etc.

1 Part Compost

Notice: Most local compost will be better off used at 5-15% instead of 33.33% as this recipe calls for. For that reason we suggest seeking out quality compost with a known reputation of move on to recipe #2.

The recipe that we use for our coots mix is as follows:

33.33% Sphagnum Peat Moss 33.33% Compost 33.33% Pumice and Rice Hulls

You’ll notice that if you combine the rice hulls and pumice it’s basically a 1:1:1 mix we just like to add 2 aeration components. Some people also add half Vermicompost and Half Regular Compost.

We use Oly Mountain Fish Compost and Malibu Biodynamic Compost along with a few local sources that we have tested extensively.

Step #2: Adding The Minerals & Nutrients:

Consider each ingredient and why it's being added. Also consider that many organic approved products just aren't as good as others. The top ingredients that are popular that most organic growers avoid are as follows: Blood meal, bone meal, guano, soy, cotton, corn and many other soil conditioners that come from potential GMO crops etc.

A brief explanation of using Cubic Feet as a measurement: Most soil companies sell their soil by the Cubic Foot as do we. But there is a big difference between what constitutes a Cubic Foot. When looking up the Volume for a “DRY” cubic foot in gallons you’ll find 6.4285 gallons. But when looking up the “Liquid” volume for a Cubic Foot you’ll find 7.4805 gallons. Well you won’t be surprised to find that most home gardeners use 7.5 gallons as a cubic foot but most soil companies use 6.4285 gallons per cubic foot. This will explain why you have less soil in some bags than others from two different companies. To be clear, we use 7.5 Gallons at BuildASoil. com for all of our soil bagging and measurements for addition of amendments.

Here is a recipe that has been proven with soil testing at labs to have a good ratio of nutrients and minerals.

1/2 Cup per cubic foot the following:

* Karanja Cake (NPK, Micro Nutrients and reported Bug Defense all in one)

* Kelp Meal (NPK, Micro Nutrients, Growth Hormones and many other benefits)

* Crustacean Meal (Crab and/or Shrimp Meal) (Calcium, Nitrogen and Chitin along with other benefits)

4 Cups per cubic foot of a mineral mix:

• 2 Cup Basalt (Paramagnetic Rock Dust from lava flow that is high in micronutrients)
• 1 Cup Gypsum (Calcium and Sulfur)
• 1 Cup Oyster Shell Flour (Calcium Carbonate)

The Nutrients added above cover all the NPK and all the micronutrients and I could explain why each ingredient is added all day long, but I encourage you to do your own research.

Now let’s say that you had access to a range of fertilizer amendments to use, which ones should you choose? I like to choose the best product and also the most economical. For instance, Guano is really expensive and typically only brings one or two things to the table. Whereas Kelp Meal is fairly affordable and brings every nutrient and micronutrient with it along with growth hormones and other secondary benefits. Would it be better to eat Red meat all day long or maybe a little fish protein with some vegetable protein? Same for your soil! No need to get all crazy with Blood meal when we can use, Crustacean, Karanja Seed Meal, Fish Meal etc. and all of the ingredients I just mentioned bring tons of secondary benefits where as the Blood Meal only brings Nitrogen in fast release form.

Note: If you only have access to Blood Meal, you will be fine and can totally use it, I’m not trying to get on a high horse and look down on people that use these ingredients. I’m only hoping to give reasons to look for better ingredients when those choices are available and providing some reasons for those that want them. All in all, I’d rather see a Blood, Bone and Guano Mix over a synthetic nutrient grow all day long.... but if you start looking into the environmental impact of some of the ingredients we use you’ll quickly consider making your own soil from totally local ingredients and once you have an idea how well this recipe performs you can start tweaking it to use what is available in your region.

Some Recommendations for custom soil building:

MORE isn’t always better. Consider the Kelp, Crustacean and Karanja inputs that I recently recommended. Adding 4000 Pounds per acre is the same as adding about 5 lbs per Cubic Yard which is just under a half cup of material per cubic foot of soil! So while a half cup doesn’t sound like a lot, adding a little extra can overdo your recipe and it would be better to add it later via topdressing. Less is More!

Most soil recipes have a total of 1.5 - 3 cups of Total fertilizers added per cubic foot of Mix. I like to keep things really minimal knowing I can always add more later. Besides that,  topdressing is so easy on smaller scale. No worry about burning and great slow release soil builder as the worms take the material into the soil and make it available to the plant. One other reason why I like to add small amounts of simple ingredients is because it allows you to diversify the soil with ingredients you haven’t added later on. For instance, my recipe doesn’t call for Alfalfa, but I love the stuff and make tea’s with it sometimes, no reason to have it in the soil and in the tea. But if you never want to brew teas you could always top dress. It’s up to you.

RECIPE #2:

8 Parts

5:2:1

5 Parts Sphagnum Peatmoss (62.5%)

2 Part Aeration (25%)

1 Part Compost (12.5%)

Using these ratios will insure that you have a lower chance of an imbalanced compost messing up your recipe. Most composts work very well at 10 – 15% especially if you are finding the best recommended compost locally.

Per Cubic Foot of Soil:

½ Cup Karanja Cake

¼ Cup Kelp meal

½ Cup Crustacean Meal

½ Cup Gypsum

1 Cup Basalt

This recipe should be used in larger volumes and you might have to topdress or supplement with compost tea but it is cost effective and will produce wonderful results with most generally good inputs.

RECIPE #3:

Mix several different ratios together and send them to the lab.

70% Peat, 10% Compost, 20% Aeration

60% Peat, 20% Compost, 20% Aeration

50% Peat, 30% Compost, 20 % Aeration

33% Peat, 33% Compost, 33% Aeration

(If you have access to high quality local topsoil you can try testing with 5% and 10% and see how those tests look, just take out some of the compost or peat to make room)

Send each sample to Logan Labs by purchasing the Complete Logan Labs test over at BuildASoil.com This will allow you to receive the soil test from logan labs and the complete report on how to amend the soil to make it just right. https://buildasoil.com/products/logan-labs-soil-test

First Sample is $150.00 For the Complete BuildASoil Package and Full Report.

This INCLUDES a detailed report and soil test interpretation. Your custom report will be created to include exact numbers for amending your field or potting soil along with helpful tips for your particular scenario.

Soil Test Interpretation and Report Powered by @GROWRU

(GrowRu and BuildASoil have been working together since 2017 and after countless hours discussing the nuances of soil testing together a mutual trust has been developed and BuildASoil is very proud to offer his services along with our support)

This includes:

1. Standard Melich 3 Soil Test. 
2. Extras: Cobalt, Molybydenum, Ammonium Nitrogen, Nitrate Nitrogen, Selenium, Silicon, EC
3. Saturated Paste Test 
4. AA 8.2 Soil Test for accurate CEC and Calcium numbers. 

We send you a package with soil sample bags and pre-printed form to send of to Logan Labs along with pre-paid postage to make it very simple.

General Tips:

MIXING:

Tarp, Flat Shovel, Rake or whatever you have to help.

Mixing on a tarp keeps things clean and allows you to spread and flip the tarp edges to help mix the soil.

WATER:

Make sure to moisten everything as you go so to make it easier to hydrate. If you mix everything bone dry and wait until the end it will be hard to get wet without overwatering. The Peatmoss is hydrophobic by nature and we like to use ThermX70 Yucca to help feed the soil microbes and also break the hydrophobic tension of the peat when moistening fresh soil.

CLUMPS:

Smash them with the shovel, grab them with your hands and smash them up, stomp on them, do whatever it takes to get a nice even consistency! This will allow for even porosity and maximize results.

COOKING:

You’ll hear this term sooner or later when discussing mixing potting soil. It just means that when you mix a recipe together it can get very hot to the touch while the moisture and compost and all the ingredients come together and homogenize. Depending on the Carbon to Nitrogen ratio and the inputs used it can get as high as 160 Degrees when made in at least a 1 yard pile. Now that being said, the recipes that we call for don’t use Blood Meal or Guano or anything with really high nitrogen and normally these recipes don’t require and real cook time but the rule of thumb is to mix up your soil and let it sit for at least a week prior to use. Some people making super hot soils like super soil let it “cook” for 2 months. I often mix and plant immediately into my recipe with no problems especially when using awesome products like Rootwise Mycrobe Complete.

SUPPLEMENTAL:

When making home made potting mixes you can always supplement with watering in or foliar spraying additional inputs like Yucca, Aloe, Coconut water, and many others available at buildasoil.com for a good suggestion list check out our No-Till Bundle that has all of our favorite products at a discount in one package. 

Don’t have the time to make your own?

Check out our most popular recipes below!

BuildASoil Light: Our Most Cost Effective and Similar to Recipe #2

BuildASoil 3.0: Our Most loaded with extra inputs

BuildASoil Classic: Our Version of Recipe #1 the Coots mix!

Once your soil is mixed up, you can plant immediately into it and add a compost tea to kick start the process. With that being said, it always works a little better if you let the soil sit in a big pile to homogenize or “Cook.” Without the use of Bloods, Bones and Guano’s it shouldn’t burn any plants but will be ready to use faster with the pre-digestion of the nutrients in the soil. When making soil in big piles above 200 gallons things heat up really fast and will need to be turned every couple days until the heating stops and you are then ready to use the soil.

I hope this short and simple home made soil tutorial can help you make your own soil, because once you do, you’ll never go back to bagged soil ever again.

If you have any questions post them up here!

BuildASoil Sourdough Starter Feeding

Items Needed:

1. Kitchen Scale
2. 2 Glass Jars (I like the Weck Jars but any Wide mouth will do) https://weckjars.com/product/743-mold-jar/
3. Stirring utensil – I like the Thermworks Mini Spatula https://www.thermoworks.com/Mini-Spatula-Set
4. Organic Bread Flour (Really any flour you have will work)

Your starter will be very active and require twice daily feedings or you can put into the fridge to slow this down to once per week feedings.

How to know when I should feed?

Your starter will rise very fast over 4-12 hours and at a certain point it will “Peak” and stop rising and start to slowly fall. If you forget to feed it will be back to the normal starting volume and be a little thin. The goal is to keep it happily fed all the time but really it’s not a big deal if you miss 1 feeding. It will rise and fall slower in a cooler home and happen faster in a warmer home.

Basic Feeding Recipe:

1. Place empty jar without lid on your scale and tare it to Zero.
2. Add 4 Ounces cool water. Preferably Filtered Water but not 100% needed.
3. Pour 4 Ounces of your starter. Your scale will = 8 Ounces now unless you Tare after adding water.
4. Add 4 Ounces of flour
5. Stir until well combined with no dry spots.
6. Swipe around the edges to try to scrape as much into the jar as possible.
7. Place lid on the jar loosely (Weck Jar with no rubber or Screw top just placed over the top.)
8. Place in your preferred spot in your home.
9. Discard the rest of your starter or make something with it.  Favorites are Pan Fried starter with your favorite toppings, Crumpets, or also Pancakes.
10. Clean your now empty Jar and place in your cupboard for the next feeding where you will use this jar and clean the other one.

How To Speed Up Starter:

1. Use luke warm water if your home is colder or during winter to keep your starter rising smoothly.
2. Use 5 ounces starter but still use 4 ounces of Flour and 4 Ounces water.

How To Slow Down Starter:

1. Use Cold Water
2. Use 3 Ounces Starter but still use 4 ounces Flour and 4 Ounces Water.
3. Right after feeding place starter in your fridge and it will still rise over 1 week like it would normally in one day. Whenever your starter reaches it’s peak you’ll want to feed again no matter the timeline.

When to use your starter:

When your starter is peaking and you are ready to feed is the optimal time to make your dough. You’ll take the 4 ounces out as per above and your leftovers are now ready to be used in your dough instead of discarded. 

Check out www.ThePerfectLoaf.com where I took much of this info and try the beginner loaf. Alternatively I’m going to post a 100% bread flour (or All purpose flour) Recipe below that is simple.

Basic 100% No Knead Bread Flour Formula:

Normally folding the dough will allow for better structure but I don’t want you to be intimidated by having to hang out and fold your dough every 30 minutes. You can really fold it loosely on your time frame but that is for another day. I’m sure I’m breaking all the rules but this bread will turn out great. The secret is to wait 24-48 hours before baking and we let the microbes do the work.

Items Needed:

1. Covered Cooking Vessel. (This catches the steam and makes the best bread ever and you shouldn’t skip this)
2. https://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Cooker-Pre-seasoned-Skillet-Convertible/dp/B0009JKG9M/
3. You can find these at the Grocery store and the hardware store here locally: https://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Enameled-Classic-Enamel-Island/dp/B000N501BK
4. Long Loaf Pan: https://sassafrasstore.com/superstone-covered-baker/
5. Poor Mans Dutch Oven: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxSbUYjBEEY
6. Watch the rest of Steves videos on youtube for no knead yeast bread. Follow my recipe below for my no knead sourdough version.
7. Parchment Paper Sheets. I like the pop up ones not the roll: https://www.amazon.com/Reynolds-Kitchens-Pop-Up-Parchment-Sheets/dp/B07L25WYS2
8. 8 Ounces Starter
9. Large bowl for combining all ingredients. I use the large glass mixing bowls because I make enough for 2 loafs.
10. Upside down spoon handle to help stir it all together (or your bare hands)
11. Spatula to scrape the bowl sides
12. Plastic Wrap to cover the bowl for 1-2 days while you let it rise.
13. Whisk or fork to stir salt into the flour. (Can use fingers I just like to get salt even)

RECIPE:

1. In large mixing bowl pour your starter discard (Should be close to 8 ounces once you keep 4 ounces for feeding)
2. Then on top of this I pour 2lbs of flour (32 ounces) About 5 cups.
3. Add 1 Tablespoon Salt to the flour and without hitting the starter below stir the salt into the flour with whisk or fork or hands.
4. Pour 25 ounces of cool water into your bowl and stir until well combined with no dry spots. I like using bare hands and constantly scraping the bowl or using the handle end of a wood spoon and stirring like a dough hook also scraping the sides with a spatula occasionally.
5. Once combined cover with plastic wrap or plastic bag so it doesn’t dry out on top.
6. Place on your counter for 1-12 hours depending on when you make it. (If it rises really fast then go do the next step after 1 hour or only a few. If it’s cold in your house and rising slow give it time to rise a bit longer before going to the next step. If you are unsure don’t overthink it.
7. Either way, when you go to bed take your big bowl of dough and place it into the fridge to slow it down.
8. When you wake up in the morning take a look in the fridge it’s probably almost doubled in size.
9. You can bake your bread now by taking our of the fridge and following the next steps or you can leave in your fridge until later tonight. I like to get at least 24 hours and up to 48 hours of “fermenting” time before I bake and find that as long as it doubles in size it will work, otherwise I really like to let it go from 24 – 36 hours.

How To Bake the Dough You Made:

1. Take dough from fridge and set on the counter.
2. Place your Dutch Oven type device into the oven to preheat it. (This is super important)
3. Preheat oven to 500 degrees or as hot as it will get.
4. Preheat at least 1 hour to make sure your Covered Baker Dutch Oven thing is super duper hot.
5. While you are Pre-heating you’ll want to dump your dough onto a floured surface and separate it. Most often people will split it half and half and bake 2 loaves back to back. I have several containers and If I’m making a long loaf I’ll use about 70% of the dough for the loaf and 30% in my second vessel which is a Lodge Combo Cooker.
6. Once you have separated your dough into portions you’ll want to press each one down to Degas it or kinda let the air out and pat it all down. I usually sprinkle flour on the work surface liberally and also on top of the dough.
7. Watch this video to see details but remember we are using our own starter and not yeast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yePMpoyXwys&t=5s
8. Once you have a flattened dough you’ll want to fold all the edges into the center overlapping to make a ball or if making a long loaf flatten out a rectangle shape and fold the edges overlapping like a burrito this way it will stay in a long shape like your bread pan. Most make round and that’s easy.
9. Check out theperfectloaf.com for all the details on shaping etc.
10. Okay so once you make your round or oblong dough shape you’ll want to set it into a well floured proofing basket or use the easiest way, a non stick pan (This allows you to pour your dough out into your final container or flip it onto parchment paper and then set the parchment paper with dough on top right into your vessel once ready. Remember your vessel will be piping hot so you want this transfer to be easy!!
11. Let your dough rise again in the non stick pan or in your proofing basket for 1 to 1.5 hours while your oven preheats and vessel gets hot.
12. Take your Super Hot vessel out of the oven with oven gloves or whatever and then take the lid off and pour your bread into it. Or easier flip your dough onto parchment and when you pull the hot vessel out of the oven lift the parchment with dough right into the vessel. Either way when the dough gets put into the hot container you can now Slash the top with a knife or razor or you can skip that step. (Cutting controls where the dough rips as it expands)
13. Put your lid ON and then stick immediately into the oven and set timer for 30 minutes.
14. Once Timer goes off take the lid off of the container and then close it back up and set the timer for 10-15 minutes. 10 Minutes for golden and 15 for darker crispier.
15. Once 10-15 minutes has passed cooking with lid off go ahead and pull out of the oven and dump onto your cutting board or ideally a cooling rack. Be careful not to burn yourself.
16. Let cool as long as you can at least 2-3 hours before cutting into to make sure it finishes cooking and doesn’t release moisture so it keeps well. This is why I make 2. I can never wait and we cut into one of them after like 20-30 minutes after cooling.
17. Store by keeping in a bread box or I Often would wrap really loose in a paper towel and into a large ziploc bag left partially open. Or you can use a grocery bag… it’s just so dry here in Colorado that it helps if you don’t have a breadbox. Otherwise check out this article https://www.theperfectloaf.com/the-best-way-to-store-bread/

For now check the instructions tab in the excel file. 

Use on PC in Excel. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

First Working Version With Auto Report Generator will be available Next week by May 1st. Please Check back here then for the newer version.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE EXCEL FILE

Free Soil Test Calculator Version 1.3 Beta Explanation from BuildASoil on Vimeo.

When I wrote the email I figured it might be useful to anyone considering testing their soil to read. So, below is the very same email reply and you can read it for your benefit. 

We utilize math based on several popular sources that are duplicatable.

The key difference with potting soil is that we had to learn over time the differences with testing and amending potting soil vs. Field soil.

1. The field soil is heavier and lbs per acre is based off of a standard weight of soil. Potting soil is much lighter. How do we adjust? Do we? This is important.

2. Organic matter is far higher than normally found on any farm.

3. We can cut the soil or leach the soil easily where with an acre.... it's more challenging.

Check out "The Ideal Soil 2.0" from Michael Astera whom I'm in direct contact with and he is available to do your soil interpretation through buildasoil.com or you can read his book.

Also check out, "The Intelligent Gardener" by Steve Solomon. He also works with BuildASoil.com and is available to do your interpretation or you can read his book!
With either of those resources you'll be able to do most of this yourself but of course we will be here to help if you wish.

Also check out our soil tests: https://buildasoil.com/collections/soil-testing

We would recommend a water test also.

Beyond that, the https://buildasoil.com/products/logan-labs-soil-test is the way to go. It's a standard set of 3 tests that we employ with potting soil to be accurate.
Once you get these test results you will need to convert the Soil test into a working set of fertilizers and amendments with a Farm Plan. To do this you can read the books mentioned or you can pay for our services! Available via BuildASoil Professional, Michael Astera or Steve Solomon.

Soil Sample taking info: https://loganlabs.com/doc/Soil%20Sampling%20Instructions.pdf

Basically we need a sample of at least 2 cups of potting soil. Move the mulch layer back and take a sample from the top 6 inches or so. You can also do a deep test if your containers are deeper and test them separate.

Alternative from the specific bed test. Many growers will take multiple samples in a bucket, mix together and then take 1 homogeneous sample to make testing affordable. Both ways are acceptable but the most accurate is always more tests. It's up to the grower to test as much as they want and usually they learn enough during the process to make a Standard procedure as to how they like to sample.

#1 Standard Soil Test Plus Extras - Extras: Cobalt, Molybdenum, Ammonium Nitrogen, Nitrate Nitrogen, Selenium, Silicon, EC

#2. AA 8.2 - This test is used to accurately determine the Calcium because potting soil has added calcium it acts similarly to alkaline soil in that it can falsely report high levels of adsorbed calcium in the soil. Once we have the AA8.2 we take the calcium # and use it to replace the calcium # from the Standard Test. Then we recalculate CEC. This allows us to be accurate!

#3 The Saturated Paste test which many agree is not accurate because it only shows what is water soluble when we know that plants exude acids and microbes break things down. That being said, We still use it because these things take time to happen and when we take a snapshot of what is water soluble we get two forms of results.

a. Fresh Made soil: Even though the soil test looks good, is there something way out of whack on the water soluble test that we could address?

b. No-Till Beds and Used Soil: We can see what is water soluble available just like the fresh potting soil but it goes to suppose that we are also seeing what the plants made available to be water soluble over time. Normally what we see over time in beds managed properly are very good water soluble tests and not always with freshly made soil. That's why all this data is valuable.

I hope that helps.

We must stick together as a community and handle these problems out in the open for the betterment of all those that are going to grow in living soil and don’t want to be forced into hydro for fear of heavy metals. When we do research and have data, the decisions become clear.

We do not believe the home grower should be as concerned with these restrictive new testing limits and we are lobbying politically for change in the testing parameters that is more realistic for organic growers. With education comes change. Instead of telling you our opinion we figured we would share all of the data with you that we have so you can make your own informed decisions.

1. What are Heavy Metals

Heavy metals are chemical elements with a specific gravity at least five times that of water. In cannabis we are talking about Heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic because they are toxic to both plants and humans, and therefore often the focus of testing.

2. Difference between Organic and Inorganic Arsenic

https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health/what-difference-between-organic-and-inorganic-arsenic

Atoms of arsenic can combine with atoms of other elements to form a variety of compounds. These can be divided into two categories, “inorganic” and “organic.” In this case, the term “organic” is used in its proper chemical sense, referring to molecules that have a framework of carbon atoms. In an “organic” arsenic compound, the arsenic atom is attached to a carbon that may, for example, be part of a sugar molecule such as ribose. This "organic" variety is more complicated in structure, but it is harmless. “Inorganic” arsenic compounds, on the other hand, do not contain carbon and are generally simple molecules, such as arsenic trioxide. These compounds are highly toxic.

Arsenic trioxide, meriting the name of “inheritance powder”, is the one that historically has been used as a lethal poison. Groundwater can contain inorganic arsenic in the form of arsenite or arsenate, in which arsenic is bound to oxygen atoms. Drinking such water can pose a serious health risk, as has been demonstrated in Bangladesh where the water in numerous wells has been found to contain arsenic at concentrations hundreds of times greater than 10 parts per billion - the number that has been deemed to be the maximum safe level. Ironically, theses very same wells were bored in the first place because so many people were dying from gastrointestinal diseases caused by drinking pond and river water contaminated by sewage. Epidemics of skin blemishes, lung disease, skin cancer, and liver failure have already afflicted people drinking contaminated well water. By contrast, organic arsenicals, such as arsenobetaine, the most abundant arsenic compound in seafood, are relatively non-toxic. That’s because the arsenic atoms are firmly tied up and unavailable for bonding with important biomolecules such as proteins.

The source of both organic and inorganic arsenicals are naturally occurring minerals, with arsenopyrite (FeAsS), realgar  (As4S4) and orpiment (As2S3) being examples. As these erode, they react with moisture and oxygen to form arsenites and arsenates that are water soluble and consequently end up in both surface and groundwater. In surface waters, these can be absorbed by algae that then convert them to arsenosugars, arsinolipids and arsenobetaine.

Fish and other forms of marine life feed on these algae and concentrate the arsenic compounds. However, due to the relatively low toxicity or organic arsenicals, there is not much worry about arsenic in seafood. Rice, on the other hand, presents a different story. It grows in flooded paddies where the water can harbour inorganic arsenicals that are readily absorbed into the growing plant and are passed into the grain. The amount of arsenic that ends up in rice depends on the local geology. California rice tends to be very low in arsenic.

Obviously, when determining arsenic content of foods or beverages it is important to distinguish between the forms of arsenic. "Total arsenic count" can be misleading, as was demonstrated by the concern over apple juice, when results revealed on the Dr. Oz Show seemed to indicate unacceptable high levels of arsenic, panicking young moms. A proper analysis by the Food and Drug Administration, however, found that the concentration of inorganic arsenic, the one that matters, was within acceptable levels. Regulations for arsenic in apple juice are now in effect and have to be less than 10 ppb, the same as for drinking water.

At one time, the toxicity of inorganic arsenic compounds made them useful in the battle against insects and rodents. For example, copper acetoarsenite, first made around 1814 by reacting arsenic trioxide with copper acetate, found immediate application as a rodenticide. It was used to kill rats in the sewers of Paris, hence its common name of “Paris Green.” During the Second World War it was sprayed from airplanes to kill mosquitoes in an attempt to control malaria in Italy. Due to toxicity concerns for people, arsenic insecticides and rodenticides have now been relegated to history books .

What are standards currently for Compost?

 BuildASoil Light results: 

BuildASoil 3.0 Recipe Results

3. What are standards for Cannabis in all states?

Colorado New Laws:

Michigan Growers?!! I would be speaking to my attorney about the Michigan laws and verifying if this language is accurate. The law states "inorganic Arsenic" but you are all being held accountable to "Total Arsenic" and that is damaging. 

4. Home Growers Concern Level?

For home growers, this means little will change. Be aware of the organic inputs that have the highest amounts of heavy metals and limit them but remember... the native soil outside has more than your potting soil so don't freak out to much. The new proposed limits are extremely low and will most likely be changed via politics. That being said, just because kelp has Arsenic doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use it. It just means that commercial grows will want to avoid it because of unfair laws. Remember, Organic vs. Inorganic Arsenic vs amounts used in the grow.

5. Commercial Growers Best Practices to Avoid Heavy Metal Failure

• No More Mulching leaves into the mulch layer. Leaves accumulate the arsenic not the resin glands.

• No Kelp Teas or Topdressing

• Seaweeds can contain far higher concentrations of arsenic than crop plants: up to 100 mg/kg (Taylor et al, this issue). In most cases the arsenic is present as arsenosugars, which are of low toxicity to humans (Taylor et al, this issue). However, as in the case of poultry litter, these compounds degrade (ultimately) to inorganic arsenic after land application⁹⁴. Although seaweeds are a ‘niche’ soil amendment, their use agriculture is increasing and has been adopted by many organic farms as a soil fertilizer as well as a feed additive in organic dairy farming⁹⁵. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5303541/#R10

• Push Aloe or Salicylic acid through flower as this reduces arsenic uptake and early correlation shows lower numbers on grows using aloe all the way through. We are testing currently.

• Push Silica as Silica can help reduce uptake.

• Rice hulls are high silica and can also help (Check heavy metal tests)
• Rice plants take up high concentrations of silica, constituting up to 10% of dry matter in the straw and husk of the plant¹⁹⁸. As mentioned earlier (Section 6) the silicon membrane transporter (Lsi1) is the main route of arsenite entry in to rice root cells, and provision of silicon causes competitive inhibition of arsenite uptake. Increasing silicon availability in the soil also reduces the expression of the Lsi1 transporter in the plant, which further decreases the potential for arsenic uptake. Fertilization of rice paddy soils with silicon is a potential mitigation strategy for preventing or reducing arsenic uptake by rice through competitive inhibition of arsenite uptake¹⁹⁹. The use of synthetic silicon fertilizers, such as calcium silicate or silica gel is prohibitively expensive for smallholder farmers in developing countries, however reusing the silicon-rich parts of the rice plant that remain after harvesting and grain processing may provide a sustainable solution that also addresses the ongoing issue of silicon depletion of the soil¹⁹⁸. Soil incorporation of fresh rice husks, or the ash that remains after burning the husk and straw for energy (which is a common practice for smallholder farmers), can provide silicon without increasing methane production and decreases either total or inorganic arsenic in rice grain²⁰⁰

• Iron and Silica have both been shown to help. (Rock Dust Like Basalt?)

  Soil amendment involves incorporating substances into the plow layer that either add missing nutrients, reduce the bioavailability of existing potentially toxic substances (to prevent crop uptake), or both. Soil amendments that have shown potential in reducing arsenic uptake by plants include iron-, and silica-based additives. The use of iron-based amendments increases in the concentration of free iron oxide in the soil, retarding the release of arsenite from the solid phase into soil solution, (mentioned in Section 4.1 and discussed in Section 5), whereas silica fertilization inhibits arsenic uptake by competitive inhibition at the plant root surface while adding an essential nutrient.

• Use Malibu Compost (See test results) as it’s highly controlled production and tests VERY low for heavy metals.

• Continue to use Rootwise Mycrobe Complete or mycorrhizae even through flower as it helps reduce uptake.

• Limit heavy use of Water Soluble Fertilizers with any heavy metals later in flower.

• Consider using planting with Chinese Ladder brake fern. "The discovery of the Chinese brake fern (Pteris vittataL) and related species to hyperaccumulate arsenic in their fronds has led to the development of environmentally-friendly and cost-effective phytoremediation technology for remediation of arsenic contaminated sites..."While many arsenic resistant plant variants resist arsenic by reducing its uptake,  vittataresists arsenic by hyperaccumulating arsenic in its tissues...P. vittata has excellent abilities to take up and transport arsenic into its fronds and concentrate it in that tissue...Because of the structural similarity between phosphate and As(V)... As(V) is taken up by P. vittata via the phosphate transporters...As [arsenic] is transported as dimethylarsenic acid to the shoot. It may be stored as an arsenic-tris-thiolate complex." (Rathinasabapathi et al. 2006:306)

6. Variables in Heavy Metal uptake we have seen so far.

Leaves take up more and the oil has the least amount. Certain Genetics can take up more or less. Overwatering can lead to increased uptake of arsenic similar to rice. Using blumats might be cause for concern if calibrated on the higher end of moisture. This will keep things from peak saturation and might limit uptake, again this is speculation and we will share more as we learn more.

7. Heavy Metal Reports and Numbers So Far

Crusty = Crustacean Meal

Blue Ridge = Blue Ridge Basalt Microfines

8. Normal numbers for native soil around the world?

The concentration of arsenic in soil varies widely, generally ranging from about 1 to 40 parts of arsenic to a million parts of soil (ppm) with an average level of 3–4 ppm.

Since arsenic is found naturally in the environment, you will be exposed to some arsenic by eating food, drinking water, or breathing air. Children may also be exposed to arsenic by eating soil. Analytical methods used by scientists to determine the levels of arsenic in the environment generally do not determine the specific form of arsenic present. Therefore, we do not always know the form of arsenic a person may be exposed to. Similarly, we often do not know what forms of arsenic are present at hazardous waste sites. Some forms of arsenic may be so tightly attached to particles or embedded in minerals that they are not taken up by plants and animals.

The concentration of arsenic in soil varies widely, generally ranging from about 1 to 40 parts of arsenic to a million parts of soil (ppm) with an average level of 3–4 ppm. However, soils in the vicinity of arsenic-rich geological deposits, some mining and smelting sites, or agricultural areas where arsenic pesticides had been applied in the past may contain much higher levels of arsenic. The concentration of arsenic in natural surface and groundwater is generally about 1 part in a billion parts of water (1 ppb), but may exceed 1,000 ppb in contaminated areas or where arsenic levels in soil are high. Groundwater is far more likely to contain high levels of arsenic than surface water. Surveys of U.S. drinking water indicate that about 80% of water supplies have less than 2 ppb of arsenic, but 2% of supplies exceed 20 ppb of arsenic. Levels of arsenic in food range from about 20 to 140 ppb. However, levels of inorganic arsenic, the form of most concern, are far lower. Levels of arsenic in the air generally range from less than 1 to about 2,000 nanograms (1 nanogram equals a billionth of a gram) of arsenic per cubic meter of air (less than 1–2,000 ng/m³), depending on location, weather conditions, and the level of industrial activity in the area. However, urban areas generally have mean arsenic levels in air ranging from 20 to 30 ng/m³.

You normally take in small amounts of arsenic in the air you breathe, the water you drink, and the food you eat. Of these, food is usually the largest source of arsenic. The predominant dietary source of arsenic is seafood, followed by rice/rice cereal, mushrooms, and poultry. While seafood contains the greatest amounts of arsenic, for fish and shellfish, this is mostly in an organic form of arsenic called arsenobetaine that is much less harmful. Some seaweeds may contain arsenic in inorganic forms that may be more harmful. Children are likely to eat small amounts of dust or soil each day, so this is another way they may be exposed to arsenic. The total amount of arsenic you take in from these sources is generally about 50 micrograms (1 microgram equals one-millionth of a gram) each day. The level of inorganic arsenic (the form of most concern) you take in from these sources is generally about 3.5 microgram/day. Children may be exposed to small amounts of arsenic from hand-to-mouth activities from playing on play structures or decks constructed out of CCA-treated wood. The potential exposure that children may receive from playing in play structures constructed from CCA-treated wood is generally smaller than that they would receive from food and water.

In addition to the normal levels of arsenic in air, water, soil, and food, you could be exposed to higher levels in several ways, such as the following:

• Some areas of the United States contain unusually high natural levels of arsenic in rock, and this can lead to unusually high levels of arsenic in soil or water. If you live in an area like this, you could take in elevated amounts of arsenic in drinking water. Children may be taking in higher amounts of arsenic because of hand-to-mouth contact or eating soil in areas with higher than usual arsenic concentrations.
• Some hazardous waste sites contain large quantities of arsenic. If the material is not properly disposed of, it can get into surrounding water, air, or soil. If you live near such a site, you could be exposed to elevated levels of arsenic from these media.
• If you work in an occupation that involves arsenic production or use (for example, copper or lead smelting, wood treating, or pesticide application), you could be exposed to elevated levels of arsenic during your work.
• If you saw or sand arsenic-treated wood, you could inhale some of the sawdust into your nose or throat. Similarly, if you burn arsenic-treated wood, you could inhale arsenic in the smoke.
• If you live in a former agricultural area where arsenic was used on crops, the soil could contain high levels of arsenic.
• In the past, several kinds of products used in the home (rat poison, ant poison, weed killer, some types of medicines) had arsenic in them. However, most of these uses of arsenic have ended, so you are not likely to be exposed from home products any longer.

 Links: 

Understanding arsenic dynamics in agronomic systems to predict and prevent uptake by crop plants

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5303541/#R10

Compost Quality Standards and Guidelines:

http://compost.css.cornell.edu/Brinton.pdf 

Maybe a friend said to add 1 cup per cubic foot of Gypsum but you aren't sure which size bag to buy? This list will help!

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0248/9641/files/WEIGHT_BY_CUP.pdf?1222

Download the PDF with the link or by clicking on the image. 

What is VPD Monitor?

Vapor Pressure, Temperature, and Humidity

We do not offer this product nor recommend it. 

We do not offer this product. 

Why Rock Dust? from BuildASoil on Vimeo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qi2O9uDZrY

Information to help make an educated decision on the use of rock dust in your potting soil or garden. Here at BuildASoil we grow in a No-Till style Potting soil system and many of the growers that follow this process use rock dust in their recipes and swear by it. In this video you'll find most of the information and sources used to formulate a decision on wether or not to use rock dust.

Free Resources On Rock Dust:

1. Bread From Stones https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/024...

2. https://remineralize.org/

3. Lifes Rocky Start Science Documentary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL96T...

4. Rock Dust Primer – Thom Vanacore https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/024...

5. Paramagnetism - Rediscovering Nature's Secret Force of Growth by Philip S Callahan Ph.D Book

6. Paramagnetism - A write up by Philip Callahan from Acres USA https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/024...

7. Rock Dust Local!! https://rockdustlocal.com/index.html

8. https://buildasoil.com/collections/minerals

FULL VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

BuildASoil Video Transcript for “Why Rock Dust”

Hey, this is Jeremy with BuildASoil and this episode is about rock dust and specifically why we wanna use rock dust. I've got some notes here just so I don't forget all of the different topics, but the purpose of this video is to walk you through the process of researching rock dust from the perspective of a brand new gardener. And what I mean by that is if you get into organic farming, organic gardening, somebody's gonna mention rock dust to you and it might be as part of a compost tea, it might be under a brand name, like Azomite or it might be because somebody sent you to a website like remineralize.org and I'm gonna share with you a number of different resources so you can do your own research and I'm gonna bring up the topics that would be controversial or that would be interesting to someone that is wanting to further understand rock dust.

And in that way I hope to allow you to become dependent, I'm sorry, independent with your own research as opposed to dependent on my answer. And then when someone asks you why you use rock dust, you can formulate your own opinion, because some of this, even though we have some science, is gonna be left up to your own gut feeling and your intuition and oftentimes when we formulated a decision in our mind, we wanna make sure that we've done the research and then in the future when we question that, it saves time to not have to constantly revisit every single one of these reasons. And I also wanna make sure that just because we've decided on something here at BuildASoil that doesn't mean that you shouldn't do the research on your own so you can arrive at the same conclusion we did for maybe a different one and then I think you'll value our process a lot more.

So, why rock dust? Well, the basic reasons, I've got six reasons here. The first one is most basic, minerals. That's why we use ground up rocks. The second one is for the texture. If we're making a potting soil, obviously it's gonna be mostly organic matter and if we wanna mimic nature, then we want to get some minerals in there, because that's what soil is. It's ground up minerals, chunks of minerals and organic matter and sand and other things and so basically mineral organic matter, we're trying to build soil and without it it's hard to say that we have anything more than just a soilless, like a hydroponic medium as opposed to a potting soil, which is what we're trying to make. So, that's minerals and texture. The third one would be biomimicry, and I hinted on that, but a lot of what we do here is if we don't understand all the nuances, a lot of the no-till community tries to mimic nature so that we can trust in natures answers as far as the results that nature gets.

Now, obviously we wanna do a little bit more. We wanna be good stewards of our plants. We are oftentimes monocropping indoors. And so I think that sometimes we can get a little bit too full of ourselves in the organic community and I wanna make sure that we use science and sound logical reasoning to make our decisions in our garden. So, that is minerals, texture, biomimicry. The fourth one would be the trace minerals, which are very important and why a lot of people use rock dust. And then the fifth one would be paramagnetism. I've got a book on that and I'll share this information with you at the end. And then a sixth one would be a soil test. So, if you've got a soil test that shows you're lacking in iron or silica or maybe some of the trace minerals, our rock dust might be a good source for you.

And so those are the main reasons why people look at rock dust. And so that's what we'll start the process. From there, I would like to play devil's advocate a little bit. Why not rock dust? There's a number of arguments out there that say that rock dust are insoluble nutrients that won't be available to the plant. And that most of the soil test won't show a specific need for a rock dust, but rather something more affordable that you could get specifically like a calcium rock or a phosphorus rock as opposed to Azomite or glacial rock dust or something of that nature. And so what I wanna do is talk about the differences so that you can make a decision for yourself whether you should or you shouldn't use rock dust and how it might benefit you. So, the types of rock dust that are on the market, they're specific types of mines for rock dust that are very important, because they're narrow in scope.

And so if you have a specific need for maybe calcium or sulfur, you could get gypsum. That's calcium sulfate. There's wollastonite, which is calcium silicate, and then there's green sand, which a lot of times people think of for potassium. What we're talking about today when we mention rock dust are not the specific ones like the lines which we'll get into later, but more a broad spectrum. So, we have a basalt that is from the Grand Mesa here and as far as biomimicry goes, the Grand Mesa is a jungle. It's beautiful. It's full of life. It has a lot of activities, 'cause there's like 300 lakes or something. Research the Grand Mesa here in Colorado. I think you'll be blown away if you haven't heard of it, but it's encapsulated in a lava flow. And what's nice about a basalt is it's a single source. We know what we're getting and it has paramagnetic energy and those are some of the things that I talked about previously.

So, that's what we use here. I'll show you the texture. It's got a variety of gradient and that's number two on my list of why rock dust is for the texture. And so you might have a great texture of soil and you're only specifically looking for the trace minerals, in which case you might wanna buy a rock flour and you can go to Rock Dust Local, Tom Vanacore or you can get something from Tom at the BuildASoil website. We have his basalt that I really like, that's a little finer where this is a gradient more for building soil. And then the other types of rock dust, the most popular you've probably heard of Azomite. If you hadn't, it's a made up name and it supposedly has all the minerals from A to Z and that's why it's called Azomite.

And, the glacial rock dust was the most recommended for a long time and a lot of that came from remineralize.org and one of the kind of godfather, so to speak of remineralizing is Hamaker. I'm not sure if I'm saying his name right, but the new primer on rock dust over at remineralize.org that's based on those teachings mentions basalt and I was talking to Tom about this years ago and it looks like he got that updated and I'll share that with you today. So, let's get back to topic. Types of rock dust. I mentioned there are specific dusts. We're not talking about those. Those are like limes, silicates, things like that or phosphorus. What we're talking about is broad spectrum rock dust and they're usually alumina silicates, like iron, aluminum and silica, and then locked in that matrix are all the trace minerals.

And as far as finding quality rock dust, I'll give you more information on that later. Some proponents that you should find the closest source to you and a lot of times that's gonna be a glacial rock dust or a local quarry of a specific broad spectrum mineral type rock dust. And then some people say that instead of using just a local quarry, you should get something that's already been tested and proven so you know you're getting a good product and there's lots of schools of thought there and I'll get into that paper next, but I just wanted to go over the popular types. So, Azomite, glacial rock dust and basalt and we choose basalt. We think it's the best. I'll get into that now. So, in the rock dust primer back to basics, which will be at the, in the footnotes here, you can get this over at remineralize.org by putting your email address in there.

Tom Vanacore from Rock Dust Local, very smart person. He talks about some of the differences. And so on here, it talks about John Hamaker promoted the use of glacial and alluvial rock dust sediments for remineralization. This choice is based on his objective of emulating glacial forces in revitalizing the planet through remineralization. So, if you think of the glaciers dragging minerals and causing this grinding and weathering of the rocks, weathering is how we ... The rock dust becomes available and so part of buying a rock that is unweathered and then crushing it and then putting in soil is so that we can harness the material that will now be weathered in our own container and I'll get more into the biology side of that in weathering, but let's go on on this. So, he recommended the glacial and alluvial rock dust, mainly glacial rock dust.

Okay. So, however volcanic geologic types such as the basalts and complex metamorphic and sedimentary hard rocks and clay's had been found to serve as well as the best regional glacial and alluvial sands and gravels. Quality of all rock dust materials should be quantified by purity, geochemical analysis, mineralogy and particle size. Glacial sediments often contain a higher percentage of hard minerals such as quartzite. So, the glacial often has a higher percentage of hard minerals. As the glacial and alluvial sediments are transported from there original location, over eons many of the softer minerals weather away. That's what I talked about with weathering, leaving a greater proportion of the harder, less nutritive minerals intact. Now, the unweathered magmas, such as basalt and other hard rock sediments derived from regional volcanism, ancient oceans, lagoons, or inland bogs often retain the rich mineral diversity and nutritive properties. So, seen in this light, both the single broad elemental spectrum hard rock or clay geology as well as the higher value glacial alluvial sediments can serve of Hamaker's objective of emulating natural forces to regenerate and revitalize the earth through remineralization.

So, that's what we're talking about when we discuss rock dust. And if you didn't catch that argument in there, basically what was happening is in the past, glacial rock dust was recommended. Going forward, basalt or these volcanic rocks, single broad elemental spectrum are gonna be a better bang for the buck, because we know better what we're getting and it's a single source instead of multiple sources as drug by a glacier. So much more information on here. Really a great report. I'll try and include it here or at least the location of where you can download this. And we carry some of his products on our website, which is why I really like talking about Tom. If you get into researching rock dust, you're going to find Tom Vanacore at Rock Dust Local. All right. So, next section, how to use it, how much and all that.

So, now we know why. We know it's for minerals, trace minerals. We know there's different types of rock dust that are out there. As far as how to use it, there's a couple of questions. How to apply it would be one, but then what you're gonna find is that if you research rock dust, some people say that it doesn't work and a lot of it is based on the quality of rock dust, the weathering and biology. And so if we're gonna be mimicking a really active soil, like we do at BuildASoil when we make our potting soil, we are including a lot of the things that nature would, because most of what ... When people get really into gardening, they talk about energy and it seems to be a common thing, that paramagnetic energy. Biodynamic speaking about the energy there and then another really good book that is a lot more scientific about agriculture and the energy.

They all talk about how the plant is kind of receiving the energy from the sun and it's grounded in the earth and it's almost like building a radio. And so when I think of my lack of understanding about how complex this subject is, I think that adding a little rock dust to our potting soil is helping with the biomimicry side, because I don't wanna miss out on a part of what may be creating that, closing the loop and creating that energy cycle. Of course you can grow plants without rock dust. So, it's gonna be very easy for people to say, look, you don't need this stuff. It's not available to the plants. And so when you research those tests, a lot of times it's more like in vitro or without the biology in there or in a soilless potting medium and small containers.

I think to see the benefit of rock dust, you have to do like the no till community does and that is adding Mycorrhiza, which is a special fungus that can help break down the rocks and deliver those nutrients to the plant and we also use worms that are gonna cause [inaudible 00:12:32] and all this rich diversity of bacteria and fungus that's gonna help break down the material and we know that the enzymes that are created in that process are very specific to what they're breaking down. So, what you see in a lab on paper is different than what you see with a lot of biology and nature. And so to the best of our ability at BuildASoil, we wanna honor science and make sure that we take that into our decision making process, but when trying to mimic nature, we also wanna make sure we include the processes that we may not completely understand yet.

And that's where rock dust comes in. And so on the how much side, what we've noticed from soil testing is that if we were to use Azomite in a high amount we would see too much available aluminum and that's why we don't recommend it. Small amounts, diversity totally fine. We have a basalt product that we often recommend at anywhere from say 10 to 50 pounds for a cubic yard of soil. And a lot of times that works out from a quarter cup all the way up to one or two cups per cubic foot of soil. Some people have recommended significantly more rock dust and what we have seen when we test a potting soil with large, large amounts of rock dust in it at the lab is that we see literally ... Usually a little bit of an imbalance in the iron and a few other things when they totally dissolve it out.

I don't think that really matters. I think you can use as much rock dust as you want, but in an effort to balance out the lab and create something that is a good chemical foundation for the biology then to work on, I would prefer to just use known amounts of rock dust that most people are using in the garden. And that's anywhere from a quarter up to maybe two cups per cubic foot. At home, you can mix a little more into your potting soil and do some experiments for yourself. I've not seen an increased benefit from adding more, however, if you run this soil back to back to back to back to back, the biology may unlock more of it and may be more important to either add more as you go or it may not matter at all. And so this is stuff you're gonna have to come up with on your own.

So, Mycorrhizae, worms, compost teas, all of these things will help weather that rock dust and break it down and make it available for your plants. And the other cofactor there, the other thing to think about is coenzymes, cofactors, things that are potentially part of this reaction that occurs that may not be apart of the end result, if that makes sense. So, things to research. Next thing would be fines versus chunks. If you look at the BuildASoil basalt, I'll try and hold that up to the camera. You can see there's fines and chunks in there. And so this really fine powder that you get in here is gonna be a lot more available than these big chunks. And so we try not to have anything that's more than a quarter inch in size and this helps us create a really nice potting soil texture with some for now, some for later.

And that's part of, again, that biomimicry process. You can also buy just a flower and use that. Some people really believe in that. I like to do like nature and get a gradient of all the different textures in there. Top dress versus tea, a lot of people add a little bit of rock dust into their teas and they feel like it helps their compost tea. I personally don't think that it does, unless you've worked the minerals into the compost while it's being made, 'cause most compost doesn't have nearly enough minerals in it. So, that's something to consider. I don't see any harm in it though. So, if a product you happen to be working with has minerals in it, like our craft blend has basalt and Azomite and a few other things, not a big deal. Go ahead and you can use small amounts.

Some people do use micronized minerals. And they get them in suspension and they foliar spray him. I've not really got into that. And so I can't really say that it's a plus or a minus. I try not to have to foliar spray the minerals. I feel like just from a natural perspective, plants should be able to pick that up through the soil. Let's see. Where to buy? So, now you've decided, hey, I like rock dust. It's got minerals and I make sure I use a lot of soil biologically active so I might be able to tap into those benefits, either in the short term or certainly in the longterm. Nature has done this forever with volcanoes and glaciers and so it makes sense that food grows really well in those areas and I wanna harness the same thing. I can put, say a half cup or a cup per cubic foot.

I can follow that 10 to 50 pounds of rock dust per cubic yard. You can also email us here at BuildASoil and we can walk you through some of those processes if you're making your own soil, but now where do I buy it? So, BuildASoil.com. We can ship you rock dust. We have our basalt. We work with Rock Dust Local and we have flat rate packages that really makes the shipping affordable and that's built into the cost. Another resource would be to go to the local garden store and then beyond that, if you go to remineralize.org sometimes there's information on there on local quarries that you might be able to find. You can always reach out to Rock Dust Local and talk to Tom Vanacore or go through their offerings that have been fully vetted, crushed, and he's got analysis on them way better than I could do.

He's unbelievable resource. Or what you can do is also go to ... For instance, over here they grind gravel and I've used that. I've sent it to the lab. It's a decent material. It's a glacial rock dust. And so you could go to a local mine and find out where they're crushing gravel and ask them about where they're getting this, what type of material it is, and I bet you could get it for free for your garden. And so that's another consideration. Again, do you really need it? If you live in Hawaii, you might not wanna buy volcanic rock dust. I mean your backyard is probably full of it. If you're making a potting soil from scratch and you wanna mimic nature, it might be advantageous for you to buy some. If you've got a raised garden bed and your soil is naturally sandy and devoid of minerals and you're trying to build a potting soil bed on top of that, adding rock dust would probably be really great.

You know, some of the people that live on the Grand Mesa out here, they're already have this basalt in their backyards, so there's not a reason for them to do that. So, I will say rock dust is great, but you don't always need it. We use it in our potting soil because we believe that it has paramagnetic energy, we believe that it creates a really good texture, is cost effective, and when we have the worms and the Mycorrhizae in there, it's very, very likely that we're actually accessing those nutrients and those trace minerals and it's making a difference in the plant growth. So, if you've got more questions, you can email them to support@BuildASoil.com. You can check out our Facebook or our Instagram and I'm gonna put this video up on Vimeo, hopefully on YouTube.

And then I should be linking maybe a snippet on Instagram so you guys can catch it out. If you've got questions like I mentioned email us or better yet post them on the video and I'll try and answer them. Again, this is not a detailed post on everything rock dust. I just want it to be a directional sign. So, if you look below, there's gonna be research on this book and where you can find more information about what paramagnetism is, what a magnetic field is, diamagnetism, ferromagnetism, all that stuff if it's intriguing to you. I also will put up the Rock Dust Local link, the rock dust primer by Tom Vanacore from remineralize.org and I'm gonna have a free ebook called Bread from Stones, which is one of the originals that kicked off a lot of this conversation for many people. So, I hope that you enjoyed this and have a great day.

Most of the organic additives are supplements and not neccessarily "must have"  ingredients. This is like asking how to cook a steak and getting really really detailed on which spices to use which leaves open a lot of room for different opinions. Bottom line, there are many paths to the same destination. (Terp Town)

About 1 year ago we came up with a simple system but mapped it out into a detailed spreadsheet that you can find here:

Complete Detailed System Spreadsheet Link

Since then we have come to realize that the spreadsheet can be daunting to look at and we wanted a good way to communicate what it's really like on a weekly schedule. So we came up with the simplified version. 

Here is the simplified version, please let me know if you have any questions!!

WORD DOCUMENT LINK HERE FOR DOWNLOAD

BuildASoil Complete Schedule Simplified:

1. 15 Gallons of soil per container.
2. Larger Containers Add Multiple Plants of Same Variety
3. Add Worms
4. Add Cover Crop
5. Mulch

VEG:

Apply every 1-2 Weeks:

Rootwise Mycrobe Complete and Rootwise Bio-Catalyst Enzymes

Apply once per week or more depending upon preference:

(Combine or add in different waterings It’s up to you)

1. Horticultural Aloe
2. N Aminos
3. Big 6 Micros
4. Yucca Extract
5. Silica

Extras to play with: Fulvic Acid, Fish Hydrolysate, Seaweed Extract, Beauvaria Bassiana BB+, Liquid Ferments, KNF

FLOWER:

Apply every 1-2 Weeks:

Rootwise Bio Phos and Rootwise Bio-Catalyst Enzymes

Apply once per week or more depending upon preference:

(Combine or add in different watering’s It’s up to you)

1. Horticultural Coconut Water Powder
2. BuildABloom – Amino Chelated Flowering Boost
3. Big 6 Micros
4. Yucca Extract
5. Silica

Extras to play with: Fulvic Acid, Fish Hydrolysate, Seaweed Extract, Beauveria Bassiana BB+, Liquid Ferments, KNF

TOP DRESSING: Add some right away and in transition to flower.

1. Craft Blend
2. BuildAFlower
3. Kashi

Compost Tea Once Per Veg and Once Per Bloom

VEG: Water + Castings or Compost + Craft Blend + Thrive.N

FLOWER: Water + BuildAFlower + Craft Blend + BuildABloom

Read The Attached PDF below for the full story.  

"Imagine a scenario where you have been consistently collecting soil data for tees, fairways, and greens for more than five years, using one lab and one procedure. Does this sound familiar to you? If it does, great! Regular soil testing is an invaluable tool for developing and fine-tuning fertilizer and soil amendment programs. Receiving accurate and consistent values from the laboratory, coupled with personal observations, allows for intelligent decision making in the field. But what if you were to discover that the data for all those years was wrong? Would you change to a more accurate procedure? If you grow turf on calcareous soils (those containing calcium carbonate) or gypsum, it is possible, and even likely, that you should consider changing soil testing procedures. However, in the absence of free carbonates or gypsum, a change in soil testing methods is unneeded. The objective of this article is to alert golf course superintendents who manage turf on calcareous or gypsiferous soils (containing gypsum in excess of 2%) that nutrient data obtained from the most commonly used and accepted soil testing extractants may result in misguided fertilizer and soil amendment programs."

http://verde-cal.com/soil-testing-procedures-calcareous-soils/

http://verde-cal.com//wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Soil_Testing_Calcareous_Soils.pdf

Video #1 is principle based and discussing seed starting.

Video #2 is me actually sowing seeds with my Go Pro on.

Please!!! Leave Questions! Thanks

This tutorial and example will be specific to a 15 Gallon Geo Pot and using ingredients found in our No-Till Bundle available over here: https://buildasoil.com/products/buildasoil-complete-system

Also you can find the System that we go over in the vidoes for free over here: https://buildasoil.com/pages/the-complete-system

Video #1: Initial Setup of your 15 Gallon Geo Pot for No-Till

Video #2: First Week Veg

Video #3: Week 2 Veg through One Week Before Flower

Video #4: The Very Important Week Before Flowering

Video #5: Flowering! The First 4 Weeks Of Flower

Video #6: Weeks 5-8 Of Flower

Video #7: Ripening, Harvest, Drying and Curing!

Rootwise Mycrobe Complete and Enzyme Explanation from BuildASoil on Vimeo.

OptiVeg Chitin Explanation from BuildASoil on Vimeo.

Don't miss the video below as Jeremy explains the details of our living soil.

See below for the Living Soil Recipe!

Living Soil Explanation from BuildASoil.

Living Soil Recipe:

1 Part Organic Canadian Sphagnum Peatmoss

1 Part Premium Organic Compost

1 Part Premium Organic Aeration and Drainage (We use Rice hulls and Pumice)

Fertilizer Amendments Per Cubic Foot:

1/2 Cup Premium Organic Kelp Meal

1/2 Cup Premium Organic Neem Cake

1/2 Cup Premium Organic Crustacean Meal

Mineral Amendments Per Cubic Foot:

2 Cups Premium Natural Basalt Rock Dust

1 Cup Premium Organic Oyster Shell Flour

1 Cup Premium Organic Gypsum

Extras:

5% Charged Bio-Char (From a leading company with testing to prove it)

Small Amount ThermX15 powder or just water with ThermX70 Liquid. 

Mix together and you have the perfect living soil for your plants!

Looking for all the ingredients for Living Soil? Check out DIY Living Soil Mix Kit

Yields approximately 4 Cups (1/2 lb.) of Sprouts

Seed Prep Measure out 2 Tablespoons of seed* Rinse your seeds to remove dust or debris.

Soak Transfer your seeds into your Sprouter (if necessary), or a bowl. Add 2-3 times as much cool (60-70 degree) water. Mix seeds up to assure even water contact for all. Allow seeds to Soak for 8-12 hours.

Sprouting Empty the seeds into your Sprouter (if necessary). Drain off the soak water. You can use it - it has nutrients in it.

Rinse thoroughly with cool (60-70°) water. Drain thoroughly.

Set your Sprouter anywhere out of direct sunlight and at room temperature (70° is optimal) between Rinses. This is where your sprouts do their growing. We use a counter top - in the corner of our kitchen, but where the sprouter won't get knocked over by cats, dogs, kids or us. We don't mind the indirect sunlight or the 150 watts of incandescent light, because light just does not matter much. A plant can only performphotosynthesis when it has leaves. Until a plant has leaves, light has little if any effect. Sprouts also happen to like air-circulation, so don't hide your sprouts. When leaves do appear, this will be plenty of light for them to green up!

Rinse and Drain again every 8-12 hours for 3 days. As long as you grow you have to keep the sprouts happy!

Always be sure to Drain very thoroughly. The most common cause of inferior sprouts is inadequate drainage. Even the best designed Sprouting Device holds water, so pay special attention to this step.

Greening On the 4th day relocate your sprouts if necessary. If you've been keeping them away from light, move them. Avoid direct sun - it can cook your sprouts. Indirect sunlight is best but virtually any light will do. Experiment - you will be amazed at how little light sprouts require to green up. Photosynthesis is a marvel!

Continue to Rinse and Drain every 8-12 hours. Your last Rinse/Drain will be either at the end of day 5 or the start of day 6 Always Drain Thoroughly!

Finishing Your sprouts will be done about the end of day 6. The majority of sprouts will have open leaves which will be green. You'll recognize them.

De-Hull You may De-Hull your sprouts at any time during day 5 or 6.

Before your final Rinse; remove the seed hulls. Leafy sprout hulls are not a real concern. They can conceivably lessen the shelf life of your sprouts, but we usually consume them too fast for that to be a concern, so it is, to us, more a matter of aesthetics. We think they look better with their sprout hulls gone - so we remove them thusly:

Transfer the sprouts to a big (at least 2 times the volume of your Sprouter) pot or bowl. Fill with cool water. Loosen the sprout mass by pulling it apart with your fingers or a fork. Hulls will rise to the surface. Keep pulling your sprout mass apart and move them around slowly, pulling them down - under the water - to make room for the hulls to rise. Skim the hulls off the surface of the water and compost them. Return the sprouts to your Sprouter for their final Rinse and Drain. You can also use our Dehuller (a small salad spinner with an excellent design that minimizes the sprouts that escape in the dehulling process). That's the short course - here is the full lesson. Better yet, here is our video on de-hulling.

Harvest If you Dehulled with our Dehuller, or used a salad spinner after dehulling in a bowl, you can go right to refrigeration. If not... Your sprouts are done 8-12 hours after your final Rinse. After the De-Hulling and the final Rinse we need to Drain Very Thoroughly and let our sprouts dry a bit. If we minimize the surface moisture of our sprouts they store much better in refrigeration, so we let them sit for 8-12 hours....

Refrigerate Transfer the sprout crop to a plastic bag or the sealed container of your choice. We have Produce Storage Bags that will extend shelf life substantially.

• Organic Vs. Synthetic
• Yeilds and Quality
• Building Soil
• General thoughts on organics
• Thinking about organic but not sure? Have a listen!

An interview with Jeremy (Owner) of the Buildasoil based in Colorado. Special thanks to Jeremy again for taking the time to sit down and chat with us!

Be sure to check out www.BuildASoil.com if your based in the states for all things soil related!

Check out www.420Australia.org for your clothing and lifestyle needs. Use the code 'thepotcast' for a 5% discount on all purchases!

BuildASoil's website - www.Buildasoil.com
BuildASoil's Instagram - www.instagram.com/
Our Instagram - www.instagram.com/the_pot_cast/
Our Youtube - www.youtube.com/channel/UCg10NUWR56nhkqREqdcSxQw

This blog goes overboard with everything you would ever need to start a premium at home indoor grow. Follow along for the key details. 

BuildASoil Grow Journal #1 from BuildASoil on Vimeo. 

Hello and welcome to the first BuildASoil.com Grow Journal! I am Jeremy Silva and the founder of BuildASoil and growing plants is my passion. That passion led me to building soil that spoiles them. Lately I've been in the office and on the phones a little too much and this Journal is the results of a goal I have to spend more quality time in the garden. I've had a lot of changes in my personal life over the last year and that has changed the location of my garden. That being said I think this is a perfect opportunity to highlight what it actually takes to start a high quality and low budget home grow. Instead of making it appear really cheap and only mentioning how much it costs to make your own soil, I figured I would highlight the absolute most expensive way to do this, which is to purchase everything brand new all at once including all the little details. 

This Grow will highlight what any average home grower should be able to do on thier own using minimal plant numbers and a fully organic approach.

We’ve had an overwhelming response to our grow videos and blog content but realize that we need to put a complete grow together from start to finish to help our friends understand some of the basic principles. This grow journal will highlight our BuildASoil style of indoor cultivation starting from seed through harvest. Instead of attempting to teach every variable we will show you a basic home setup and discuss the principles that make this all work. If you have specific questions, please leave them below and I’ll do my best to answer them directly.

The Grow Setup: (Getting the environment right is imperative)

Keep in mind many of the expenses below are not neccessary and are one time costs that you could easily save by buying used or getting creative. 

Genetics: 

#1: Truth Tree by Boneyard Seeds Norcal (Mandelbrot VIII x Redwood Kush)

#2: Ektoplasm by Verified Genetics (Ghost OG x Bazooka Bumble)

I'm honored to have these packs and will be sprouting 6 Seeds From Each pack due to limited Plant Numbers. 

This setup will be for twice what the average grower will use because I'll be comparing two different growing styles. Geo Pots vs. Earthbox Sub Irrigated Planters. I'll be vegging and flowering in two seperate 4x4 tents. 

Veg Room: 

4x4 Grow Tent : $174.95

150w Endomaxx Grow Light: $350.00

DuraBreeze Orbital Wall Fan 12": $51.95

DuraBreeze 6" Ducting 25': $18.00

DuraBreeze 6" Inline Fan: $124.95

DuraBreeze Duct Defender: $10.50

2 Gallon Geo Pot Velcro Transplanters x 6: $30.00

Black Plastic Trays for under 2 Gallons Geo's x 6: $12.00

BuildASoil Biodynamic Recipe x 2: $40.00

Humidity Maker Set: 6 disc for $175.00

Total Veg Room Cost: $987.35

With both tester tents running the cost will be double which you may want to consider if you are going to be growing perpetually with one dedicated veg tent and one dedicated flower tent. For this grow we will be vegging and flowering in the same spot without moving to a separate flower tent. 

Flowering Upgrades:

I'll be flowering in 2 seperate 4x4 tents which will show you the possibility of our 2 favorite growing styles. Earthbox Sub Irrigated Planters Vs. 15 Gallon Geo Pots.

4x4 Tent x 1 

Earthbox Wellness Garden - BuildASoil Style x 3: $300.87

Endomaxx 315 CMH additional Lighting: $500.00

Flowering Upgrades Total: $800.87

4x4 Tent x 2

Endomaxx 315 CMH additional Lighting: $500.00

Black Saucers x 3: $15.00

15 Gallon Geo Pots Black With Handles x 3: $28.20

BuildASoil Biodynamic Recipe x 6 Bags: $120.00

Barley Straw Mulch x 2 Cubic Feet: $18.00 

Alternatively you could use Cocoa Shell Mulch

Cover Crop Seed 1/2 Pound bag: $5.00

Flowering Upgrades Total: $686.20

Extra Products to Support the Living Soil System: 

Rootwise Mycrobe Complete: $45.00 

Malted Barley 2lb: $10.00

TeaLab Tea Brewer Kit: $73.80

Worm Castings 1 Cubic Foot Bag: $40.00

Liquid Gem Organic Fish Hydrolysate: $18.00

Extra Product Cost Total: $186.80

Integrated Pest Management:

Chapin Sprayer: $110.00

IPM Kit #2: $108.62

Hypsoapsis Miles Predator Mites: $35.00

Nematodes: $40.00

IPM Cost Totals: $293.62

TOTAL COST BREAKDOWN: 

Startup Cost Geo Pot Style: $2153.97

Startup Cost Earthbox Style: $2268.64

NOTICE: These are ONE time costs! After this your cost per grow is limited to Compost Tea, Topdressing and a few extras like electricity and water.

Basic Seed Sprouting Info:

1. Good Seeds

2. Good Soil

3. Plant the seeds about 1/4" deep. Place seeds sideways in hole and then cover with soil and tamp lightly to make sure the seed won't move once watered. 

4. Cover with mulch of some sort and keep the top of the soil moist. 

5. Avoid temperature extremes and if possible consult VPD charts for Humidity vs. Temperature ideals. 

For more detailed info on germinating seeds check this post out.

http://mandalaseeds.com/Guides/Germination-Guide